Visitor From The East: Florida Native Daniels Finds Home at LSU(10/29/04)
by Natalie Grantham
LSU Sports Information

Travis Daniels hails from a state with some of the most celebrated football talent in the nation. But despite the three perennial BCS contenders that he could have played for within the Florida state borders, the senior cornerback says he has no regrets about leaving.

In fact, he says most people there don't even know what college football is all about.

"When I go home, I tell them they've never been to a college football game until they come to watch one at Tiger Stadium," he said.

Daniels said his first experience in Tiger Stadium was one he would never forget. He saw and heard the Tigers' overtime win over Tennessee in 2000 and decided nothing else compared.

"LSU fans go crazy," he said. "I couldn't believe it."

Daniels' mother, Spring Grant, will finally get to see a game at LSU when she comes for the Tigers’ Senior Day game versus Ole Miss on Nov. 20. But she and about 50 of Daniels’ nearest and dearest got to watch as he improved to 2-0 in college in his home state with the Tigers' 24-21 win over Florida earlier this month in Gainesville.

Teammates donated their complimentary tickets to Daniels to return years of the same favors from him.

"Since my freshman year I've been giving my tickets out to whoever needed them," Daniels said. "Because we were going to Florida this year and it was my last time going there, a lot of the guys on the team asked me if I needed the tickets. They were really supportive."

A troop of converted LSU fans traveled 300 miles to watch as Daniels and company held one of the most productive units in the SEC to just 236 yards of total offense.

"At the Florida game, everybody had a Travis Daniels jersey on," said Corey Webster, Daniels’ counterpart at cornerback and good friend off the field. "He got about 40 tickets and everybody drove out there. It was almost like a home game."

LSU pride runs rampant in Daniels' hometown of Hollywood, just outside Miami.

"Every time I go home everybody sends me money to buy license plate frames and shirts," he said. "They have ordered a lot of jerseys from Eastbay (catalog). They are big LSU fans."

Daniels only goes home a few times a year, but he got to celebrate LSU's biggest win of the season with them after the game.

"I haven't been home in so long, so I got to see some familiar faces as opposed to just my teammates' families," he said. "That's cool too, but sometimes it's nice to see your own family."

For Daniels, silencing the crowd at Florida's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium for the second time in a row was almost as rewarding as playing for his family.

"I have a friend who is a Gator fan, and he always talks about the Swamp and everything," he said. "Going down there and beating them will shut him up for a year."

Some of his friends and family were confused by Daniels’ desire to leave Florida after high school. He was recruited by the major schools there, but was ready to try something new.

"I knew if went to school in Florida, chances were I wouldn't have been willing to take the chance to move away after that," he said. "Coming here let me know I could make it on my own."

The decision worked out better than he could have imagined. He said he can picture himself staying in Baton Rouge for good when his playing career is over.

"I like it here," he said. "It's a lot different from Miami. It's slower and more relaxed. It's real fast down there, so by coming here I was able to concentrate on football and school more than if I was at home."

Football hasn't turned out so bad either. Daniels started every game in the 2003 National Championship season.

"It's worked out in my favor 100 percent," he said. "If I would have gone to Miami, they won a national championship right when I was coming out of high school, but I was a freshman. Nine times out of 10, I probably wouldn't have been playing. I might have redshirted. By coming here, my junior year I was able to play in all the games and the championship. I got to earn my ring instead of inheriting one."

Daniels was supposed to redshirt his freshman year at LSU, but made headlines when he entered the 2001 SEC Championship game after starter Randall Gay was injured. Daniels broke up two passes against Tennessee, including one in the end zone.

"Just to make the travel squad was big to me," he said. "But to actually go in the game and play, and play in the SEC Championship game, that was really big. I wasn't really concerned about how many games I played or how many snaps I had. I wanted to go out there even if I just played one time."

Three years later, experts from across the country tabbed Daniels and Webster as the top cornerback duo in the nation prior to this season. But the two don’t pay much attention to that when they are on the field.

"We don't let things like that affect us," Daniels said. "It's cool to have that, but we're just trying to get better. Then they will say that at the end of the season as opposed to the beginning."

Daniels and Webster are both athletic enough to be a menace to quarterbacks, but combined they give one another an even bigger edge.

"He tells me things I might not be doing right and I do the same thing for him," Webster said. "We kind of complement each other. We make each other better."

Their personalities complement each other as much as their games.

"I'm laid back, but Travis is more spontaneous," Webster said. "He likes to go out there and make the hoorays and get excited after a play.

"It's kind of the same way off the field. He's always got plans and wants to know what's going on tonight."

Sharing attention with Webster, an All-American, and the rest of the headliners on LSU's defense doesn't bother Daniels one bit. He actually likes it.

"I think if there is a spotlight, there's enough for everybody on the team. I feel like I got to college because in the 10th grade people were looking at other guys on my team and they noticed me too when they watched the tape. As I keep moving up, it's the same thing. Everybody looks at Corey and whoever else, but they're also going to see you. So the light's big enough for everybody, really."

Truly a class act. I am glad I had the pleasure of meeting him at the Ghetto Mart before I moved to Shenandoah. :geaux:

Very good read, thanks. :geaux:

Travis could have worded this a little better: :wink:
"Every time I go home everybody sends me money to buy license plate frames and shirts," he said. "They have ordered a lot of jerseys from Eastbay (catalog). They are big LSU fans."

Not everyone has the "pleasure" of learning English at BRHS as we did.